Twenty athletes to represent the United States as a member of the 2018 USA Softball Junior Men’s National Training Team

OKLAHOMA CITY — Following a three-day selection process, 20 athletes have been selected to represent the United States as a member of the 2018 USA Softball Junior Men’s National Training Team (JMNTT), USA Softball announced today. Selected by members of the Men’s National Team Selection Committee (MNTSC), these athletes will compete in select tournaments/invitational events before the final 17 player roster for the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) Junior Men’s World Championship (JMWC) will be finalized.

“I’m excited about the passion and desire these young men have,” said Head Coach Ty McKinney. “Following training camp, we will have a few more opportunities to get together and work on some fundamentals such as pitching, hitting, and defensive plays to prepare for the World Championship in Canada.”

Representing the U.S. this summer will be a roster that includes veteran member Jeff Lewis (Winston, Mo.), who returns from the 2016 team that placed fifth at the WBSC JMWC in Midland, Mich. and finished with a 4-3 record. Joining Head Coach Ty McKinney (Ashland, Ohio) are Tony Aresco (Stoneham, Mass.), Mike Armitage (Normal, Ill.) and Bob Piddock (Castro Valley, Calif.) who will serve as Assistant Coaches in 2018.

A full list of National Team events, including exhibition games, will be released at a later date. Follow along all summer with all of the USA Softball National Teams at USASoftball.com.

About USA SoftballUSA Softball is a 501(c)(3) not-for profit organization headquartered in Oklahoma City, Okla., and is designated as the National Governing Body (NGB) of Softball in the United States and a member of the United States Olympic Committee. One of the nation’s largest sports organizations, USA Softball sanctions competition in every state through a network of 70 local associations and has grown from a few hundred teams in the early days to over 150,000 teams today, representing a membership of more than 2 million. USA Softball is dedicated to providing people of all ages the opportunity to play the game they love at a variety of levels by offering recreational, league, tournament and competitive play for fast pitch, slow pitch and modified pitch. USA Softball annually conducts thousands of tournaments throughout the country including over 100 National Championships. The USA Softball umpire program is among the nation’s largest and are widely known as the best trained umpires in the game.

As the NGB for the sport of softball, USA Softball is responsible for training, equipping and promoting the six USA Softball National Teams that compete in events such as the Olympics, Pan American Games, World Championships and other international and domestic events. For more information on USA Softball, including its founding and history as the Amateur Softball Association of America (ASA), please visit, www.USASoftball.com.

About the World Baseball Softball Confederation

Headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland — the Olympic Capital — the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC) is the world governing body for baseball and softball. WBSC has 202 National Federation and Associate Members in 143 countries and territories across Asia, Africa, Americas, Europe and Oceania, which represent a united baseball/softball sports movement that encompasses over 65 million athletes and attracts approximately 150 million fans to stadiums worldwide annually.

The WBSC governs all international competitions involving official National Teams. The WBSC oversees the Softball World Championships (Men, Women, U-19 Men, and U-19 Women), Premier12, World Baseball Classic, and Baseball World Cups (U-12, U-15, U-18, U-23 and Women’s).